Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-09-17


The Americans suggestions as to
a desirable change in the present
cooking arrangements of the ordi-
nary family have been well received.
Not only are people In Nashville
discussing the suggestions but inter
est is being excited elsewhere, for
everywhere do we have this same
trouble of unreliable servants, waists
of provisions, badly cooked food,
heat, grease and smoke. The follow
ing communication from the Chatta-
n0oga Times of yesterday states the
case mildly. NN3d NJ III lN
The worthless character of most of
our hired cooks Is sorely trying to the
patience of our hOusekeepers. The
situation in that line has been
steadily growing from bad to
worse until 1t has become unbearable,
especially to our good, tidy and
economical housewives. The cooks,
the colored in general, are becoming
more lazy, dirtier, more licentious,
more impudent and more exacting.
A great many households would
gladly dispense with these disagree
able, unc0iIth things If they could
obtain their dinners regularly from h
clean, well-kept establishment at
moderate prices. Why could not
some respectable, enterprising lady
prepare herself to take orders for
dinners for the following day, pre-
pare same as ORDERED, deliver in a
wagon and send for the vessels after
dinner! tHHa
Briefly stated the idea, which, by
the way, has been tried and found
successful in the .highest degree in
New York and London and many
other large cities, is this: Instead
of the absurd waste of a hundred
fires to cook hundred dinners, and
a hundred servants, mostly incom-
petent, to do the cooking, apply the
idea that has long ago been applied
in the factory and warehouse. One
large fire or patent gas stove and
one or two cooks would suffice for all
the hundred dinners. The same may
be said of many other forms of
domestic work. A row of houses or
of flats, or the families of neigh
borhood, could, in their collective
capacity, well afford to organize a
model kitchen, with the most im-
proved modern mechanical appli-
ances. For such kitchen the meai,
etc., could be bought wholesale, and
an immense economy realized all
round. On the other hand the cooks
and servants could be paid the high
est wages, the best skill demanded
and obtained. Hi8 Y
1t might be done as a lady in New
York has pointed out. Left depend
ent on her own exertions, she began
furnishing meals to residents in her
section, and so much better were her
meals and so much cheaper than
those furnished by the common run
of cooks, that her business outgrew
her and forced her to equip large
establishment for this work. Imita-
tors came, as they always will when
a thing pays and now the business
has grown to be great industry.
We are informed that it is now in
operation in one section OF Edgefeld
most successfully, thrifty and in.
telligent colored man furnishing d
large number of families with excel.
ent meals at a rate that would moi
more than pay for the marketing, to
say nothing of saving fuel and the
wages of the cook, and all the annoy
ance of having cooking done at home
1t is to be hoped that some one can
be induced to try the experiment or
large scale, at least large enough tc
give it fair trial. There can be nj
doubt that the experiment will result
in success, for it has not failed in any
large city yet, and is particularly de
manded here. Any one with {
reasonable amount of experience car
do it, ane earn more money than il
made by three-fourths of the business
or professional men in Nashville
american. sa 5d9 99
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